With greater frequency, more pastors and church staff are losing their jobs because of what they post, particularly on Facebook and Twitter and, to some extent, their blogs. By the way, churches will not always tell the pastor the specific reason for the firing. But, once we begin to infuriate our church members with our posts, many will find a myriad of reasons to give us the boot.

3. The phantom ring: The perception that one’s mobile device is ringing (or, more precisely, vibrating) when, in fact, it is not.

4. Cyberchondria: People who research and diagnose their own illnesses online. They get neurotic, and go down a Google wormhole, frantically reading about every dreaded disease that matches their symptoms.

5. Truman Show Delusion: The spooky feeling that someone’s watching you, the false perception that our lives are being broadcast.

♦ When we use a tool, not only are we shaping the world around us, but our tools are shaping us. The value systems embedded into our digital tools shape how we think and act, which even has a physiological effect on how our brains work (see Carr’s book The Shallows). Christians must actively interrogate the technologies they use and determine whether the value system the tools encourage align with the Bible’s value system.

♦ We often have an illusion of connection via social media, but for most, no one really knows us. This has huge implications for Christian community. Christians who unthinkingly use digital technology will struggle to create and maintain deep forms of Christian community.

♦ When we constantly use tools that train us to value efficiency and convenience above core aspects of our humanity, we begin to blur the definition of humanity itself. And if the definition of human is blurred, it is suddenly possible to mold the definition of human to exclude certain groups

Hi David, do you know of any apps similar to the Freedom app you you use that can be used on the Kindle Fire tablet? Freedom doesn’t offer a version that is compatible with the Android platform. Thanks